Terminal

Terminally pointless

The stories of a pair of assassins (Dexter Fletcher, Max Irons), a dying teacher (Simon Pegg), and a railway station janitor (Mike Myers!) all come together in the seedy, all-night Terminal diner, where an enigmatic and possibly not-quite-sane waitress (Margo Robbie) provides a willing ear, all overseen by a mysterious puppet master.

The overqualified cast is the most remarkable thing about this neon-lit crime-movie pastiche, an exercise in style over substance if there ever was one.

For the first, mildly interesting two thirds, that style is visually arresting, but hardly enough to mask the thin and derivative, pseudo-noir story line. And those that dug Robbie’s madness in Suicide Squad will eat up her confident, off-kilter performance here. The woman is certainly versatile.

But in the final act, after casually ripping off The Usual Suspects, the film pretty much self-destructs and jumps into a rabbit hole of self-indulgent and mean-spirited horror tropes. (95 min)